Succession

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The Reaper's Due.

The Inheritance screen

Succession is the distribution of a ruler's titles upon his death based on succession and gender laws of each title.

It is one of the most important concepts in Crusader Kings II, as it controls what character you play as the heir to the primary title. It also affects the opinion your vassals and dynasty have of you.

Upon a ruler's death, his titles will be distributed to other characters based upon what succession law they use. This is not necessarily the same for each title; multiple titles can follow different succession laws.
To access and see these succession laws, go to the Laws tab - Inheritance and click on the coat of arms of each title on the top.

However, it should be noted that only the succession laws of de jure titles on the highest tier you hold matter; everything below that will be given out together with the title it is bound to.
Titles without a higher de jure title in your current possession will stay with your primary title.

There are several different succession laws in the game, each with different requirements and effects. There is no 'best' succession law; which you'll want depends upon your goals for the campaign. Below is a list of all succession laws. Succession laws consist of a type of succession and a gender law.

At duchy level and lower, a single succession law covers all of a character's titles. However, if a character holds multiple kingdom or empire titles, these will each have their own succession law, which may lead to different heirs for each kingdom title.

Be cautious of succession laws that allow non-dynasty members to inherit, as this can result in Game over. If you are a vassal with your eyes on your liege's title, these succession laws can work in your favor. Expect AI lieges to change their succession laws as soon as a non-dynasty member or a dynasty member with a non-dynastic marriage (e.g. matrilineal if the member is male) stands to inherit. Certain succession types have Crown Authority requirements (without Conclave) or Administration requirements (with Conclave).

Descriptions in italics are quotes from the in-game descriptions of the law, current as of patch version 2.3.5.

Titles distributed between children and primary heir, who is elected from among the members of the ruling dynasty. Primary titles may be created for younger children if enough of their land is held. +30% demesne limit (mix of Tanistry and Gavelkind)

The ruler and vassals are given votes equal to the number of qualified titles that character holds. A successor is then voted on from among themselves and legitimate children and siblings of the ruler. Electors are happier in this system unless their liege personally holds too many elective titles.

Since non dynastic characters can be eligible nominees, it is possible to lose your top title to a non-dynasty member.

-15

-5

-5

+10

Not unreformed pagan.

If Muslim or Dharmic, must have Conclave DLC and the council law "full council authority" to enact elective succession. However, elective succession does not become invalid after you revoke council authority, so the law not revert after succession.
Chosen successor will have +25 relations with those who've nominated them.

The ruler and all elector vassals can nominate an heir — the Tanist — from among members of the ruler's dynasty. Vassals will tend to favor older members from other branches of the family, especially claimants

Similar to Feudal elective but with a few significant differences: candidates must be dynastic, more electors

-20

-10

+5

+5

Celtic culture
Not Muslim

*If you are about to create a kingdom title, it may be advantageous to change succession laws before the creation. So if you're to create Vassal level kings as the Byzantine empire your subject kingdoms will possess the laws the empire has. (Since newly created kingdoms start with the same laws as your duchies, kingdom, or empire).

The courtier with the highest sum of (age + prestige) inherits. To be eligible, a courtier must be an adult male, same religion, not heir to any other titles, and not imprisoned.

If there are no eligible courtiers with positive election scores, a new character is generated with:

the religion of his top liege,

either the culture of his province or of his direct liege (50% chance each).

For religious head titles such as The Church of Zun, courtiers are ineligible, and the title always goes to a newly generated character. For the Varangian Guard, Orthodox characters are eligible(?) even though the initial holder is Germanic pagan.

If the liege lord has nominated a successor under the free investiture law, the nominee succeeds.
If the liege has bribed the pope to nominate a bishop, the nominee succeeds.
Otherwise, the Pope nominates a generated character.

Khan: The son or brother with the most Prestige inherits the clan title.

Khagan: Usually goes to the dynastic heir of the previous khagan. However, another clan chief (khan) can inherit based on population ratio and difference in prestige. Children cannot inherit the khagan title, so if the dying khagan has no adult sons nor brothers, another khan inherits the title.

Succession laws can only be changed once in a lifetime per kingdom/empire, by a ruler who:

is at peace

is not in a regency

has ruled in the current capacity for 10 years. A count who has ruled for fifteen years before creating, inheriting or being granted a dukedom (or simply changing primary title) will need to wait ten more years after getting the new primary title before being allowed to change succession law.

has no direct vassals (for counts and dukes) or direct vassals of count rank or higher (for kings and emperors) in the territory affected by the change who with non-positive opinion. Since this only applies to direct vassals, a particularly troublesome vassal can sometimes be dealt with by transferring that vassal to a higher-ranked subordinate.

does not have two or more direct vassals who are at war with each other. This can be difficult in sprawling empires. Medium crown authority helps, but does not prevent rebellions or attacks by some vassal kings. You can intervene in a prolonged war between vassals by granting one side more land. You can also stop a war immediately by revoking all counties from one combatant, or by forcing them to rebel against you.

A ruler cannot change both the succession type and the gender law.

All direct vassals and direct family members will have a large penalty or moderate bonus temporary but long-lasting opinion modifier as a reaction to a succession change, whether it be gender or succession method itself. This appears to be hardcoded (unmoddable) and largely arbitrary, as for example female family members will be outraged at a change to true cognatic even if it makes them the new heir, and includes baron-level vassals who in theory should have little if any opinion about it.

Note that Muslims can only use Agnatic Open (Turkish) succession (Muslim patricians follow the succession used in merchant republics), while tribes can only use elective gavelkind, and unreformed Pagans can only use Gavelkind (except Mongols and Zunists, who can also use Ultimogeniture).

Furthermore, there are restrictions on inheritance between merchant republic titles and feudal titles. Patricians cannot inherit feudal titles, and a patrician's heir must be a courtier.

As of 2.4, a courtier who is potential heir to conflicting titles (such as a merchant republic and a feudal duchy) will choose one or the other, rather than inheriting the title whose holder dies first. Restarting the game, and thus recalculating succession for all characters, may change these choices.

Succession in the Byzantine Empire is further influenced by the Born in the Purple trait and the Despot honorary title. Characters who have either of these attributes are considered higher in the succession line than those without.

With primogeniture or gavelkind, BitP offspring take precedence over older children who were born before their parent ascended to the throne.

With seniority, BitP characters take precedence over other dynasty members as soon as they reach adulthood.

When a character is already landed but inherits a new title, a conflict could occur that is indicated in the game as an alertVassal inheritance warning.

For example, if an English count inherits a French title from his mother upon her death, either the French or the English realm will expand as the game does not allow a character to be vassal to two different lieges.

If Crown Authority is not high enough to play a role, these conflicts are resolved as follows:

The vassal contract that goes with the primary title stays intact. So if an English count (vassal to the King of England) inherits a French duchy (vassal to the King of France), this ducal title will be his primary title. He will become a French duke and his county will become part of France.

Note that the inherited title cannot be the primary title if it is of equal or lower rank, because the heir simply never had the time to change it. Therefore, if an English count (vassal to the King of England) inherits a French county (vassal to the King of France), his English county will stay his primary title and his county in France will become part of England.